Behold the 787bb: We Took A Tiny Mazda And Made It Look Like A Ferrari And Then Made That Look Like A Different Mazda

I think I first realized the gravity of the situation at the moment that first slap landed. It was one of those slaps that catches you completely off guard, a meaty, warm and damp hand making full contact across your face, the fingertips stinging your eyes nanoseconds before the hefty weight of the palm impacts your jaw. My gin and tonic, which had previously been in contact with my lips, was now tumbling across the bar, distributing ice cubes like some sort of arctic Johnny Icecubeseed.

If you were to follow the arm connected to that hand, you’d find that arm connected to a shoulder, and that shoulder connected to the torso owned and operated by Shriners International Grand Potentate Glawrence J. “Garry” Lieb, the leader of the Shriners, which were just one of many, many organizations – ranging from the American Dental Association to the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists to the Global Initiative for Asthma to the International Rabbinic Fellowship – who all had the same basic question, the gist of which the Grand Potentate barked at me, still dazed from the slap:

“You better flapjacking have a good flapjacking car to take to Monterey Flapjacking Car Week this year, or so help me, you miserable little lout, I’ll flapjacking make you flapjacking sorry! You squirmy little flapjackoff.”

I’ll admit, it took me a moment to process all that was going on. I wasn’t expecting any Shriners to show up at my new favorite taillight bar, The Red Rear Room, especially not a member of the Imperial Divan, and yet here they were. But I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s just about time for Monterey Car Week, and we have yet to officially announce what car we’re bringing! No wonder everyone is on edge and sending me thousands of emails, hundreds of physical letters and postcards, scores of courier-carried cakes with the question written in frosting and a little poison, dozens of rocks and bricks with notebook paper-written messages wrapped around them, and at least one trained hawk, clutching a cassette tape with screamed demands.

It’s understandable. We have a pretty good track record of bringing fun cars to Car Week. Matt covered them this morning, but I’ll repeat it again, just because:

If you don’t remember, the first year David, Jason and Beau went up with three incredibly rare supercars. The second year, we went to Car Week in Beau’s incredible Coach Door Lincoln Continental. The third year, we brought the amusing Pontiac Aztek. And then last year … the Murano CrossCabriolet. We got so much attention with the CrossCab, and built so much lore, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to come up with something that would be as big. How do you top that?

So, what do we have for you now? Oh, it’s good. So good. It all started with a dream. Well, maybe not a dream. A car.

You may recall that Autopian co-founder Beau had bought a very cool little Mazda Autozam AZ-1, with the intent of putting one of those Liberty Walk miniature-Ferrari F40 body kits on it. That’s been in progress for a while now, and there wasn’t really a plan for the car, until there very much was.

Originally, the plan was to just make the Autozam look as much like an enshrinkified Ferrari F40 as possible. That would be fun! We could park it next to real Ferraris and everyone could enjoy a good, sensible chuckle.

But then we learned that Mazda would be bringing their incredible 787B race car, which not only won the 1991 24 Hours Of Le Mans, but was also the first car from a Japanese manufacturer to win at Le Mans, and was the first, and to this day, only, rotary-engined car ever to win.

This car is a big deal.

That’s what got us thinking; we have this little Mazda here. That Liberty Walk kit looks like a shrunken F40, sure, but it also kinda looks like the Mazda 787B Le Mans car! I think it was Matt who really got worked up about the idea, and realized that if we wrapped it so it had the famous Renown livery of the 787B, it would really look like it.

Then he really got on a roll: and what if we got some modern Mazda to tow it up there, like a CX-90, and wrapped that in a matching livery as well! Think how fantastic that would be!

Keep in mind, this all happened only, oh, six weeks ago? Tops. So I drew up some quick livery diagrams, replacing most of those other logos with ones that actually mattered to us. Besides, why should we give free advertising to Renown? They went out of business years ago, but they did know how to pick a car to stick their name on, and they sure knew how to make weird ads:

But back to the Autozam. Here’s the mockup I made:

…and here’s what we got. Holy crap, it’s just like we imagined!

It’s so good. The team at Galpin Auto Sports did an incredible job with the Renown Tribute livery, made using orange color PPF from our partners at XPEL and a lot of vinyl cutting and careful work.

I’m really thrilled by this. It’s sort of a deep cut joke, but I think if there’s anywhere people will recognize the car and what we’re going for here, it’ll be in Monterey, during Car Week.

I mean, look how much it feels like that original 787B! Just, you know, 1/4 scale. We’re calling it the 787bb, as in the texting-vernacular shorthand for “baby,” and we’re going to drive it all over Monterey, because, as we’ve said, life is for the living.

Another rotary Mazda race car in Renown livery, this one owned by a private owner, had a bit of drama a day or so ago when their Mazda 767B caught on fire:

 

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Luckily, no one was hurt, but we would just like to float it out there that perhaps our Autozam-based 787bb might be able to cover for that car, in a pinch? Just an idea. Hopefully 64 hp would be enough?

We’re going to drive the whole glorious rig up tomorrow, so if you’re on the roads between LA and Monterey, keep an eye open for us. And then we’re going to drive it all over Car Week! Here’s a quick schedule.

Where To See The Car/s

We’ll be driving around a lot, and it’ll be great if you find either car to come say hello, get a photo, and put it on social media while also tagging us and Mazda USA!

• 6:00 PM – MOTORLUX – Our friends at Hagerty have invited us to the big kickoff event of Car Week and are even going to allow us to show the 787bb. Come check it out!

• TBD – AROUND! We’ll be driving around and will try to be conspicuous. Mazda’s 787B and other heritage cars will be at Laguna Seca all week.

• 8:00 AM – THE QUAIL A MOTORSPORTS GATHERING – While we won’t have a car in the show, we’ll be there to bring you all the news (there’s a lot!) this year.

• 8:00 AMish – CONCOURS D’LEMONS @ SEASIDE CITY HALL – Jason is judging again and we’ll have both cars there in the morning.
• 10:30 AMish – Jason stays at LeMons to finish judging, we’ll move the Autozam to Laguna Seca.
• 12:00 PM – The car will bet set up in the Lakebed at Laguna Seca.
• 1:00 PM – Autograph time at the Mazda paddock (from real drivers, no one wants our autograph) followed by exhibition laps from the 787!
• 3:00 PM – Maybe back at the Lakebed to hang out for a bit? Either way, we’ll be at the track.

• If you’re at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance we’ll be around. The real 787B wlll also be there.

How To Participate In Car Week With #CarWeak

Even if you’re not going to any of the events, one of the best parts of Car Week is just taking photos of all the random cars on the street that make you weak in the knees. Cars like this brilliant orange Lexus LFA.Here’s how to play along:

1. Follow The Autopian on Instagram.
2. Take a photo of a cool car.
3. Post it and add the hashtag #carweak and (Double points if you find either of the vehicles we’re bringing and tag MazdaUSA as well).
4. Let us know if you’re an Autopian member, and we’ll send you a sticker. If you’re not a member, we’ll send you a discount for membership.

Also, if you find us at Pebble Beach, we’ll have stickers in the cars to hand out until we run out.